Jealous ex-boyfriend stabbed and strangled woman to death, court hears

A JEALOUS ex-boyfriend stabbed and strangled his former partner to death in a revenge attack after their relationship ended and she began seeing another man, a court heard.

Charles Jessop, 29, took a knife and cycled to 33-year-old Clare Nash’s flat in Newmarket, Suffolk, on the evening of January 16 last year, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Mark Cotter QC, prosecuting, said Jessop lay in wait until Ms Nash returned home then launched his stabbing attack, strangling her after the knife broke.

“This was a revenge attack borne of jealousy by a man who wouldn’t accept that Clare Nash had rejected him and entered into a new relationship,” said Mr Cotter, adding that it was a “pre-meditated, vicious and cowardly attack”.

He went on: “The knife broke during the attack, which likely explains why he went on to strangle her.”

Ms Nash’s friend Peter Claringbold, who lived with her, “was inside and heard screaming coming from the front doorstep”,

Mr Cotter said. Mr Claringbold heard Jessop shouting “you’re going to die”, the court heard.

He dialled 999 but medics could not save Ms Nash.

A pathologist could not say whether Ms Nash died by strangulation or from blood loss, Mr Cotter said, with her cause of death recorded as a combination of both.

Jessop, of Bakers Row, Newmarket, denies murder.

Mr Cotter said the attack happened “in the presence of (Ms Nash’s) three-year-old son”.

He said there had been a “number of violent incidents” as the defendant’s relationship with Ms Nash deteriorated.

The trial continues.